I need your honest opinions about Digital Cam guys, Canon SD800 or Olympus Stylus 750.? or any suggestion?

Question

I'm fine w/ 7MP but I'm particular w/ the optical zoom & picture quality, I know Olympus has 5optical zoom vs 3.8 for Canon, pls tell me why will I buy your choice....Thanks a lot....

Answer 1

Check out this comparison page. Click on "In-depth review" and "Read Owner Opinions" for each camera. Be sure to note that the reviews are many pages long so you don't stop after page one. Check the sample images, also. You can enlarge these to full size images if you click on the link below the picture. You will have to then put your cursor in the white space to the right of the picture and click once. After that, you can pass your cursor over the image and it will turn into a magnifier. Click it as a magnifier once and the image will go to full size and you can really examine the detail or look for artifacts like fringing or noise. I'm sorry, but I guess the Olympus is too new to get it reviewed here, so there are no sample images, either.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=canon_sd700is%2Ccanon_sd800is%2Coly_stylus750&show=all

Steve's has a little info, but it is not really a review and there are no samples: http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/stylus750.html

Check out the Canons at Steve's, also:
SD800: http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/sd800.html
SD700: http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/sd700.html

I put the Canon SD700 in the mix and I'll explain in a minute.

The thing I don't like about the Olympus is that it does not have an optical viewfinder. This is the source of many complaints about digital cameras going through batteries quickly. I can't argue with the extended telephoto range of the lens and the image stabilization would really help at that range. But, the lens is somewhat slower than the Canon lenses, like almost a half a stop slower. This may not seem like much, but the advantage for lower light goes to Canon.

Why did I put the SD700 in the grouping? If I was going to choose between the SD700 and the SD800, I think I'd go for the SD700. The wide end of the SD800 lens has been criticized for letting the image break apart at the edges, so people with experience tend not to use it at full wide angle anyhow. That's what I've heard on Yahoo! Answers, anyway. If that's the case, then the advantage for thelens goes to the SD700, as it is good at all focal lengths and it zooms to 140 mm (equiv) while the SD800 only goes to 105 mm. This is a big difference.

Of course, the Olympus going to 180 mm (equiv) is quite an improvement over the SD700's 140 mm.

My bottom line? I don't really know. I'd compare the Stylus 750 against the SD700 in the final analysis. The advantage for longer zoom goes to the 750, but the advantage of having an optical viewfinder that would let you shut off the LCD if you want to save your batteries goes to the SD700. It's too bad we can't see sample images of the Stylus yet, because that would be the big difference to me.

I just found a review of the Olympus for you:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/OS740/OS740A.HTM

The professional reviewer pretty much only gives a preview, but go on down to the user review and read the pros and cons.

This really disturbs me:

-Severe chromatic aberation in the corners
-Surprisingly bad optics. Only a few small areas of the frame are in focus at any time.
-LCD very hard to read outdoors. (My note: And there is no optical viewfinder to use in these situations, so you are screwed.)
-Very stiff shutter button (My note: Sure to introduce camera shake; maybe even too much for the image stabilization to control.)

That kind of clinches it for me. I would not buy the Olympus. Maybe they will improve the camera through the model run, but it does not sound good right now.

Choose between the Canon's. I would suggest you look at the SD700 instead of the SD800. Okay, it's only got 7 MP instead of 8, but that's not a wild difference when you come down to it.

Petra will come along and so will TomTom and they will both tell you to buy the SD700, also.

Answer 2

Try the Canon Powershot A630...I have been researching it. I worked in a photo lab for 8 years before coming a teacher and I know a lot about digital cameras. Check out the site.. You can even see a demo of it.

Answer 3

Canon is the number one seller of digital point and shoot cameras for a reason.